Brooke Miller

Brooke Miller, hardly a household name, but just you wait. Her debut CD You Can See Everything is awash in mind-blowing brilliance. Hailing from Prince Edward Island on Canada’s Atlantic coast, the lush organic landscape of her birth land bleeds through every track on the album. Comparisons to Rickie Lee Jones, Sheryl Crow and Natalie Merchant are obvious but glimpses of Miller’s punk rock
youth keep the disc from becoming too precious. Look for great things to come from Ms. Miller. - CD, 9/10/07
- Sentimentalist Magazine

“[Brooke] Miller is an incredibly talented guitarist whose jazz/blues/folk influences are artfully expressed through her masterful combining of melody and rhythm. Miller's vibrant vocals coupled with her strong songwriting skills and outstanding playing abilities makes for an album and listening experience not to be missed." - Teri McIntyre - Canadian Press

"On the strength of her debut album, Brooke Miller is one Atlantic Canadian artist to watch for .....one of the best recordings to come out of 2007." - Glenn Meisner, Atlantic Airwaves - CBC Radio One, Canada

"Canadian Brooke Miller is a gifted singer/songwriter/guitarist, that deals in folk/rock, and basic jumpy storytelling tunes... At only 25, she has the pipes and material to remind the listener of an animated Joni Mitchell." - Bob Engleman Sept./07 - Guitar Digest

"Brooke Miller is the type of artist that elicits a form of internal conflict in the simplest of listeners. On one hand you want to tell everyone the treasure you found, on the other you want to keep her for your own little secret. Miller's alluring strong, gauzy vocals are the perfect accompaniment to her matured finger picking styles and tuning patterns. Her sound is uniquely distinct yet still reflective of influences such as Bruce Cockburn, Rickie Lee Jones and jazz guitar guru Lenny Breau." - August, 07
- Canadian Guitar Festival

"Brooke Miller has honed her craft. The PEI based singer/songwriter reminds me of some of the very best of her ilk, variously channeling Bruce Cockburn, Oh Susannah, etc...her ear for melody, thought provoking lyrics and guitar work belie her years...I'm sure she will join the ranks of some of Canada's best singer-songwriters." - August 07 - Penguin Eggs Magazine

"Brooke Miller deserves favorable comparisons to Joni Mitchell." - July 07 - Shoreline Guitar Festival

"It is a safe bet we will be hearing a hell of a lot more of her in the coming months and get in on a good thing."
- July 2007 - Halifax Herald

A P.E.I. original
Brooke Miller looking forward to Charlottetown show on Oct. 9, part of an exciting fall Schedule

SALLY COLE
The Guardian

Brooke Miller doesn’t like it when music reviewers compare her to Joni Mitchell.
“Just because a woman plays a guitar in a different way doesn’t make her a Joni Mitchell knockoff,” says the Charlottetown-born singer-songwriter with a laugh.
She wants to be seen as an individual.

“Although no artist is without strong influences it’s important that each artist make their own print and begin to move forward themselves. That’s what drives creativity and original ideas and original thought,” says Miller, who will
perform at the MacKenzie Theatre in Charlottetown on Oct. 9.

It’s her originality that’s getting her noticed. Miller is this year’s recipient of the fifth annual Colleen Peterson Songwriting award for her song, Two Soldiers.
The award will be presented at the Ontario Council of Folk Festival’s annual conference on Saturday, Oct. 13.

“I’m so excited about it,” says Miller, who will perform the song — a compassionate and moving look at the war in Iraq — during a showcase that afternoon. Second to the gig, she’s excited about coming back home to P.E.I. for the Oct. 9 concert.

“There’s something about driving over the bridge and getting that first whiff of sea air. And tasting my mother’s seafood chowder. “But the thing I really enjoy is seeing family and close friends,” says Miller, who lives 90 minutes outside Toronto. She will catch up with her extended family at her Oct. 9 concert.
That night she will share the stage with Don Ross and Andy McKee.

“We’re three solo artists, and it’s a cool opportunity to go on the road together,” says Miller who will be performing songs from her debut album, You Can See Everything.

The CD’s 10 songs showcase her ability to write and play in a style that incorporates blues, folk, country, jazz, pop and traditional Celtic.
“I wrote Country From the Dome Car after I went on a train trip from Toronto to Vancouver. It was a train festival. “It was just an interesting experience to be around a lot of other Canadian musicians and travel by train,” she says.

She penned Everywhere after entering an “interesting relationship” with a man who would become her husband. “The song is about the different kinds of love in people's lives and the things we look back on and cherish,” says Miller, who is married to singer-songwriter Don Ross. “I really enjoyed writing that song. I had never written a waltz before, but it came together very quickly,” she says,
adding the CD was co-produced by music veteran Peter Lubin (John Campbell, Everly Brothers, Martin Briley) and Ross.

So far her album is receiving positive reviews. CBC’s Atlantic Airwaves radio show calls the album “one of the best two recordings to come out in 2007.”
This is encouraging to Miller, who has had a busy year. “It’s been crazy and good, all at once. “This past year has been about creating relationships, both professional and musical and allowing myself to get involved in some business strategies. “I’m learning about being a self-employed musician and understanding what that aspect of my life is going to be like.”

At a glance
*Who: Brooke Miller.
*What: Charlottetown concert, Oct. 9, at the MacKenzie Theatre in Charlottetown.
*Tickets: Contact the box office toll free: 1-800-565-0278 or 566-1267.
*Musical influences: Bruce Cockburn, Rickie Lee Jones, The Police.
*Website: www.brookemiller.ca.

(9/28/07) - The Guardian

There's not a lot of fuss in the way Brooke Miller sings. No trills, leaps or shouts interest her. Instead, she hits her sweet, soft melodies dead-on, the better to communicate an unwavering sense of candor.

It's an approach well-suited to the fine brand of country and Acadian-tinged folk Miller favors on her engaging debut CD, "You Can See Everything." The disk features 12 carefully crafted songs that trip from brisk country (the opening "World on a Whim") to complex jazz ("Trouble Where You Seek It").

Throughout the CD, 25-year-old Miller benefits from the nimble fingerings of her husband, guitarist Don Ross, who co-produced the album.

Miller's handcrafted style draws from the rustic, wind-swept character of her hometown on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Though reared with local folk styles, she played, and toured, in punk bands as a teen. None of that shows on "You Can See Everything."

Listeners to its songs will be reminded of such understated singers as Shawn Colvin and Mary-Chapin Carpenter. Like them, Miller's vocals serve the melody and the lyrics with a modesty that lets them shine. But don't underestimate her voice. When Miller sings, it has the same effect as someone looking you straight in the eye. You believe her. - Jim Farber

Friday, October 12th 2007 - New York Daily News